Chapter 23
ETHAN
“Berns. Berns. Calm down.” Marek’s voice was low and even on the other end, full of infuriating level-headedness. “Take a breath. What’s going on?”
I wanted to reach through the phone and smack him, but I did as I was told and took a breath. I couldn’t say it helped much. “Jake. Is in jail.”
His own breath hitched on the other end, as if he’d finally understood that I wasn’t freaking out over nothing. “Where are you? Carson and I are on our way.”
I closed my eyes. “I’m at the ER. I’m—”
“The ER?” All his level-headedness vanished in favor of panicked fury. “What the fuck happened? Did Jake—sakra, tell me he didn’t—”
“No! No!” I shook my head for no one’s benefit but my own. “He didn’t do anything. Not—not to me, I mean.”
The other end was so silent, I thought the call had dropped.
I swallowed hard and stared at the ceiling in my too-bright, too-sterile room at the ER. “Someone grabbed me—my fucked-up arm—and Jake lost it. They arrested him, and I came here to make sure they didn’t jack up my broken bones.”
“Did they?” Marek sounded concerned now.
“No.” I exhaled hard. “My whole arm fucking hurts, and they made me talk to the damn cops, but the X-rays look fine.”
Marek was quiet for a moment. Then he pushed out a breath. “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m on my way to you. Carson will go see what’s going on with Jake.”
“I am?” Carson’s voice was tinny in the background. “What am I missing?”
“I’ll fill you in in a minute.” Marek shifted his attention back to me. “Which hospital are you at?”
I gave him the necessary details, and we ended the call.
Not twenty minutes later, he was striding into the room, his eyes full of intense concern. “Hey. How are—”
“Dude, how fast did you drive?” I asked.
“Fast enough,” he said dismissively. “How is your arm?”
I glanced down at the cast and shrugged. “It’s fine. I don’t even know why I’m still here.”
“Because it’s a busy emergency room. Trust me, you don’t want to be their top priority.”
I shuddered. He had a point. “Any word on Jake?”
Marek glanced at his phone, then shook his head. “Not yet. Carson said it’ll probably take two or three days to bail him out, and—”
“What?” I sat up so fast I almost tumbled off the gurney. “They’re just going to keep him until—”
“He still has to have a bail hearing,” Marek said gently. “It’s—the whole process is longer than TV makes it out to be.”
I groaned and covered my face with my good hand. “Jesus Christ. So he’s just… They’re just going to… ” I let my hand fall to the gurney and met my teammate’s eyes. “He just has to sit there in jail until they unfuck things?”
Grimacing, Marek nodded. “Unfortunately.”
Ugh. I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or be sick. Maybe both. Violently. At the same time. Just the thought of Jake sitting in a shitty cell for days—what the fuck?
“He didn’t even do anything.” I paused. “I mean, okay, he beat the shit out of the guy who grabbed me, but like, it wasn’t out of nowhere, you know?”
Marek scowled. “The cops don’t give a shit why. Assault and battery is assault and battery.”
“Jesus Christ.” My stomach curdled with horror and guilt. “It’s because of me. He was defending me, and then—”
“Berns.” Marek put his hands on my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. “Don’t do that to yourself. Just don’t.”
“But he wouldn’t have touched the guy if—”
“If the guy hadn’t been a jackass who touched you.” Then his expression softened, as did his grip on my shoulders. “And I get it, okay? I really do.” He gestured at my cast, then let me go and straightened. “If I hadn’t told you to go after Vincent… ”
“Someone had to do it,” I said quietly. Scowling down at the cast, I muttered, “Not your fault I hit him just right to break my stupid hand.”
“No, but I encouraged you to fight him in the first place. You don’t think that keeps me awake at night?”
I chewed my lip. “So you’re saying I can beat myself up over it.”
Marek sighed. “I’m saying I know there’s no talking you out of beating yourself up over it. But it’s really not your fault.”
I just grunted unhappily. Whether it was my fault or not, it sure fucking felt like it. Then another thought darkened my mood even more. “Didn’t he pull away from Carson after what happened in Abu Dhabi? Like, he blamed himself so much, he couldn’t even face him anymore?”
Marek nodded, sighing as he eased himself into one of the hospital room’s chairs. “From what Carson has told me, Jake is kind of quick to withdraw if something feels off.” He paused, then admitted, “When Carson told him about me, he backed off pretty hard, too.”
I tilted my head. “What? Why? Was he into Carson or something?”
“No, but he hadn’t figured himself out yet. And I guess realizing his friend was into men made him… ” Marek gestured like something flying away. “Carson told me once that for a fighter, Jake has a bit of an overactive flight instinct.”
My stomach knotted tighter. “Oh. Shit.” I shifted on the gurney. “What if… What if this whole thing makes him pull away from me?”
“Why would it?”
“Because he was defending me and wound up in jail for his trouble? I mean, what if he’s ashamed of that or he’s mad at me for—I don’t know, being the reason he got arrested? He pulled back from Carson even though Carson didn’t do anything, you know? So why wouldn’t he do the same now?”
My teammate seemed to think about that. “How much do you know about what happened between them?”
“The fight, you mean? When Jake hurt Carson?”
Marek nodded.
“Not a whole lot. Jake said he tried—some move or another. A spike, I think? And Carson ended up in the ICU.”
“Something like that. But the thing is, it didn’t just end Carson’s career.
It could have killed him. Or paralyzed him.
Everyone knows it was an accident, but they also know it could have been so, so much worse than it was.
” Marek shrugged. “I can’t really blame Jake for being spooked by that, you know?
He probably couldn’t look at Carson or even think of him without remembering he could have literally killed him.
Even if he feels guilty about what happened tonight, it’s not quite on the same scale, you know? ”
“Yeah, true.” Rumor had it there were videos out there of the spike that had seriously injured Carson and put a massive rift between the two of them. I had never felt compelled to look it up, and I got the impression Jake wished that footage would magically vanish from the earth.
Tonight hadn’t been as serious. No one was hurt, though the fucker who’d put his hands on me was going to be best friends with ice packs and Aleve for the next week or so.
I was fine. Jake would probably be out on bond within a couple of days.
After that… Well, that depended on if anyone pressed charges and what those charges were.
I ran my hand through my hair. “What if he gets a felony or something? What if he does blame me? Or he’s so ashamed of it, he doesn’t want to see me?”
“I doubt that.” For the first time since he’d walked into the room, Marek smiled. “I’m pretty sure he’s in way too deep with you to let something like this chase him off.”
“What do you mean?”
Marek stared at me. Then he rolled his eyes. “Oh my God. Seriously?”
“Um. Yes?”
Another eyeroll. “Sakra. Come on. You’re not that stupid, are you?”
“Uh. Apparently I am, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
That prompted another flurry of Czech cursing.
“Ethan. We’ve talked about this. Jake is completely and stupidly in love with you.
” He shook his head emphatically. “Even as quick as he is to get spooked, it’s going to take more than a couple of nights in jail over something like that to chase him away.
” Marek gave an exasperated sigh. “The fact that he kicked someone’s ass for laying their hands on you should tell you something.
He’s stupid, and he’s completely stupid for you.
” With a quiet chuckle, he added, “That man’s not going anywhere, Berns. ”
I laughed nervously, a mix of hopeful butterflies and terrified knots in my stomach. Marek was pretty damn smart, and he was very observant. All I could do in that moment was hope this was one of those times when he knew what he was talking about.
Right then, his phone chirped. He looked at the screen, and his spine straightened.
“What?” I asked as my heart jumped into my throat. “What’s—”
“They’re dropping the charges.” He started thumbing a message back. “Carson said they’re processing Jake out right now, and he should be out in the next hour or two.”
The relief that crashed over me made me sway. “So he’s not—they’re not keeping him for days after all?”
“No. Apparently the guy who’s been trying to recruit Jake convinced the cops it was self-defense.
Or… well, defense of you, anyway. And there were videos to prove it.
” Still typing, Marek rose. “I’m going to go check with the nurses and see about your discharge papers.
” He tapped the screen once more and met my gaze as he shoved the phone into his pocket. “I’ll be right back.”
Then he was gone.
All the air rushed out of my lungs as I sank back against the hard pillows.
This wasn’t over. I had no idea how Jake was feeling or what he was thinking, but at least he was getting out of jail. And he wasn’t getting charged with a felony or something.
Still not the best possible outcome our evening could’ve had, but I’d take it.
I had no idea what Marek said to the nurses, but he lit a fire under someone’s ass. He’d probably been polite, charming, and desperate for help—he was good at being charming, and if I had to guess, he knew as well as anyone not to be a dick to nurses. They were just doing their jobs, after all.
Whatever he did or said, barely twenty minutes after he’d left the room, we were getting into Marek’s car.
As I pulled on my seat belt, I asked, “So, are we meeting them at the police station, or what?”